After years of debate on the issue, a new proposed law on animal welfare suggests the outlawing of sexual encounters with animals in Sweden, a practice previously decriminalized in 1944.

”We know that there is a great risk of the animals being used this way are harmed by it,” said Eva Eriksson, County Governor of Värmland, who has been working on the new animal welfare law since 2009, at a press conference.

According to Eriksson, the topic has been up for discussion over a longer period of time and she feels that “major societal changes” warrant a clear prohibition against sex with animals.

”Today it is very easy, on the internet and other places, to encounter animals for sexual intercourse and there are also many more reports of this happening,” said Eriksson.